NEEDLES BEAT PINBALLS IN KING'S CROSS

It could be a doctor's surgery or even a solicitor's
shopfront.

From the outside, passers-by can see a row of chairs lined up against
a semi-opaque window.

Nestled between strip joints, sex toy shops and fast-food outlets, it
is obscure - no flashing lights, no head thumping music, no touts
luring business.

On appearances alone, 66 Darlinghurst Road is the least offensive
thing about King's Cross, the notorious strip where the flotsam and
jetsam of Sydney washes up each night.

But when the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre opens for business,
probably this week, it will have cameras trained on it and dozens of
journalists straining to see who goes inside.

The Federal Government remains implacably opposed to the injecting
centre trial but says it will not call on its external powers to close
it. The centre, run by the Uniting Church, came from the 1999 New
South Wales drug summit.

The King's Cross district records a staggering number of overdoses -
in April an average of 12 people overdosed each day. According to the
committee which will monitor the centre and evaluate its results, it
should save the lives of between seven and 10 people a year.

Amendments to the NSW Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act and a general
agreement with police mean staff will not be charged for aiding and
abetting, provided they stick to the rules which prohibit them helping
anyone inject.

Similarly, drug addicts on their way to the centre will not be charged
with possession as long as they carry only the prescribed small amount
for personal use.

How this will work when the injecting room opens is one issue
surrounding the 18-month trial. How close to the centre does someone
carrying drugs have to be for immunity from prosecution?

The location of the centre, a refurbished pinball parlour, has been
contested furiously by the King's Cross Chamber of Commerce and
Tourism, which claims it will attract addicts and dealers to the
precinct where honest traders are trying to make a living.

Chamber vice-president Malcolm Duncan insists, without irony, that it
will bring down the tone of the place.

But polling shows about 70 per cent support among local residents. The
centre will operate for a few hours a day in morning and evening sessions.

Uniting Care executive director the Rev. Harry Herbert said the centre
would get drug-taking off the streets, which would be only a good
thing for local businesses.